The defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), will kick off their title defense against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the season opener at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28. The team has ticked all its boxes with players and staff joining the franchise for the new season. RCB has a formidable squad for the upcoming season and will be aiming to start their title defense on a positive note. They have everything sorted from the opening to middle-order batting and bowling combinations. In the previous edition of IPL, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli used to open for the team and had success with their aggressive hitting, and had Devdutt Padikkal at number three. However, things are different this time. With the addition of a few new names, the teams might think of adopting a new strategy for the IPL 2026. The former Indian batter, Abhinav Mukund, thinks the same. He said Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) should continue to back Devdutt Padikkal for this season as well, instead of another left-hander, Venkatesh Iyer. RCB bought Venkatesh Iyer for INR 7 crores in the mini auction ahead of IPL 2026. Considering his all-rounder ability, he can be a vital player for the team. However, Devdutt Padikkal seems ahead with his performance as compared to Iyer with this recent track record. Also Read: Ajinkya Rahane to Captain KKR Again in IPL 2026, Franchise Confirms with Big Update Mukund backed Padikkal with his domestic records and asked the franchise to start with him at number three. As quoted by ESPNcricinfo, Mukund said: "At the time of the auction last year, Venkatesh Iyer's stocks were probably at 10, and Devdutt Padikkal was at 2. The roles are reversed now. Devdutt had a phenomenal season. He's the one knocking on the doors of the Indian team cricket. He had a very good season for RCB at No.3. So for me, Venkatesh Iyer does not start. I would start with Devdutt Padikkal.” Devdutt Padikkal had a brilliant IPL 2025 campaign, where he smashed 247 runs at an impressive strike rate of 150.61 for RCB. He has been unstoppable since then, piling up huge chunks of runs and breaking every other record. He scored 309 runs in just 6 innings of the SMAT T20 2025 tournament at an impressive strike rate of 167 and an average of 61.80. He dominated the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year, scoring a whopping 725 runs in just 9 innings at a batting average of 90.63. He smashed four centuries and two half-centuries. His scores of 124, 147, 113, 108, and 91 represent a level of consistency needed in white-ball cricket. On the other hand, Venkatesh Iyer could only manage to score 211 runs in 10 innings of the SMAT T20 tournament and 176 runs in just 8 innings of the tournament at an average of 25.14. Considering the recent domestic performance, Devdutt Padikkal seems miles ahead with his track record and would be a strong contender for the number three slot.